At Hannover’s Steintor Square stands one of the city’s most recognisable and historically significant buildings, the Anzeiger-Hochhaus. Built between 1927 and 1928 in the style of Brick Expressionism to a design by Fritz Höger, it was one of the first skyscrapers in the Weimar Republic and is still an architectural icon of Lower Saxony. The 51-metre-high building, with its distinctive green dome, has not only become part of the city’s skyline, but also its media and cultural history.
History of the Anzeiger-Hochhaus and its significance
Anzeiger-Hochhaus was built as the headquarters of the publishing house Hannoverscher Anzeiger A. Madsack & Co. which today functions as Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack, publisher of the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Presse, among others. The building is not only notable for its architecture, but also for the role it has played in the history of German journalism. It was here, in the post-war era, that two influential magazines were founded: “Der Spiegel” (1947) and “Stern” (1948). Despite 88 bombing raids on Hanover during the Second World War and massive damage to the city, the Anzeiger-Hochhaus survived with relatively little damage, mainly due to the steel frame of the structure. It suffered its greatest damage in March 1945, when the planetarium housed in the building’s dome burned down during one of the last air raids. It was later replaced by the “Hochhaus-Lichtspiele” cinema, which is still in operation today and is the tallest cinema in Germany.
Architecture – Brick Expressionism in full swing
The building designed by the well-known architect Fritz Höger is a prime example of Brick Expressionism, typical of the architecture of northern Germany in the 1920s. This trend combined the traditional building material brick with modern, dynamic forms. The façade is made of dark red, partly gilded clinker bricks and the patinated copper sheet dome gives it an original character. Gothic and expressionistic architectural details and vertical divisions emphasised by luminous installations catch the eye especially at night. The building’s interiors have also been carefully designed, as exemplified by the representative entrance hall (the so-called Schalterhalle), which features a ceiling decorated with decorative luminous elements in the form of a “Höger’s Eye” (Högersches Auge) – a symbol of vision and modernity, in keeping with the spirit of the age. These forms allude to both Gothic motifs and the aesthetics of early modernism, providing an interesting fusion of styles.
ChristianSchd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Anzeiger-Hochhaus: from editorial office to media centre
In the post-war years, the Anzeiger-Hochhaus continued to be vibrant. More than 800 people worked there and the 7th floor housed a popular café with an observation deck. In 1974, the editorial office of HAZ moved to Bemerode. Over the following decades, the building served as the headquarters of numerous media companies, including HIS Hochschul-Informations-System eG, TVN Group, as well as the regional editorial offices of RTL, Sat.1, ffn and Antenne Niedersachsen. The digital magazine “Sonntag”, published on tablets, was also established there in the modern era, and a showroom and training spaces were set up in the so-called “ticket hall”.
Today – a synthesis of history and modernity
The Anzeiger-Hochhaus is still a living media and cultural centre. The dome is currently undergoing extensive renovation, so the cinema has been temporarily relocated to the space of the former box office hall. Adjacent to the building is also the historic Goseriedebad complex from 1905, today used by the Kestnergesellschaft and radio ffn. With its architectural craftsmanship, historical significance and uninterrupted public function, the Anzeiger-Hochhaus remains one of the most important landmarks on the map of Hanover as a testament to the 20th-century spirit of innovation and almost a century of sustainability.
Source: architectuul.com, vielfaltdermoderne.de
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